Westmoreland wants probe into Muslim influence

U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a Coweta County Republican, is calling for an investigation into whether the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the federal government.

Last month Westmoreland signed a letter, led by former presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., requesting inquiries from the inspectors general for the departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Critics are calling on the five Republicans who signed the letter to come up with evidence, but Westmoreland in an interview Wednesday with Channel 2 Action News said he only wants the security agencies to remain vigilant.

"We just want to make sure they have understood and have looked at exactly what this group may be doing to participate, just like they have in other governments," he said.

The five Republicans — who serve on the Intelligence Committee — claimed U.S. overtures such as recognizing the Muslim Brotherhood as Egypt's government help further the group's aims of imposing Islamic law worldwide. In particular the Bachmann-led letter cites as evidence an investigation by Frank Gaffney, former Reagan administration Pentagon official and author of "Shariah: The Threat to America." The Southern Poverty Law Center labels Gaffney "the anti-Muslim movement's most paranoid propagandist."

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to Congress, questioned the evidence, calling it "regurgitated nonsense" in a CNN interview Tuesday.

The Republicans specifically target Huma Abedin, the deputy chief of staff for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Bachmann, in a response to Ellison, noted that Abedin's late father started an organization in Saudi Arabia, the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, that had the support of another organization, the Muslim World League, that was aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood.